Bookmarkers beware: Bookmarks to pages other than the home page may not work after we change our server in April Editor's Choice | This Week in BMJ | Press releases BMJ No 7129 Volume 316 News Saturday 7 February 1998 Health secretary hits back at charges of bias After allegations of bias, the government's appointment procedures to NHS trust boards in England have been largely endorsed by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, Sir Leonard Peach. The Conservative shadow health secretary, John Maples had complained that a disproportionate number of Labour councillors had been nominated on to boards. In response, the health secretary, Frank Dobson released with Sir Leonard's approval the text of his reply, which on the whole endorsed the government's appointment procedures. But Sir Leonard does want to test the quality of those appointed and has asked his auditors to look at the process by which local authority members were nominated, the competition to which they were exposed, and evidence indicating whether they were chosen on merit. Labour's election manifesto said that NHS boards would become more representative of the communities they serve. The result was some 1,800 nominations from MPs and local authorities. Sir Leonard says that he approved the plan as long as appointments were based on merit. In answer to Mr Maples's complaint that the code of practice had been breached, Sir Leonard states that the evidence suggests otherwise. On the issue of "political manipulation," the Department of Health admits an error when officials wrote to council leaders inviting nominations for the first round of appointments, and not to the chief executives. Nor did they make it clear that minority parties should be consulted. The procedure was changed for subsequent trawls. To a charge of incompetence in filling appointments on time, Sir Leonard says that the combination of a new government, inexperienced ministers, and the huge number of appointments to be filled within six or seven months of an election had put a substantial extra strain on the system. John Warden London Home | Current issue | Past issues | Classified ads | Career Focus | Feedback Collections | About this site | About the BMJ | BMA | Medline